Collapsible bag support

ABSTRACT

A collapsible bag support having hinged connections between adjoining sides and resilient bars extending between the upper and lower ends of two of the sides to secure the hinged connections at any desired angle.

States i 1 mwi Inventors Jacob 1-11. Storm;

Lucille 1. Sturm, both of Route/1 1, x 3462, Lone Oak, Text. 75453 Appl. No. 800,396

Filed Feb. 119, 1969 Patented Sept. 7, 1971 COLLAPSIBLE BAG SUPPORT 12 c 3 Drawing Figs.

Us. on m7, 248/150 in. en B6511) 67/12 Field oireh 248/97,98,

[56] Meier-exam Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,049,218 12/1912 Feist 243/98 2,507,905 5/1950 Hughes 248/100 X 2,847,227 8/1958 Lankford... 248/98 1,145,297 7/1915 Erickson 248/97 1,691,571 11/1928 Haven 248/98 1,895,904 1/1933 Lutts 248/97 X Primary Examiner-Chance11or E. Harris Attorneys-Howard E. Moore and Geraid G. Crutsinger ABSTRACT: A co11apsib1e bag support having hinged connections between adjoining sides and resilient bars extending between the upper and lower ends of two of the sides to secure the hinged connections at any desired angle.

COLLAPSIBLE BAG SUlPlRT BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Plastic bags are commonly used for packaging sandwiches, leftover food and the like. A major difficulty encountered in using plastic bags for this purpose involves holding the bag open while it is being filled.

Plastic bags commonly used in the kitchen have flexible sides and therefore will not stand in an upright condition without the application of external force. We have found that it is very difficult to place food in plastic bags, particularly, where it is necessary to hold a dish in one hand and remove the food from the dish with the other while attempting to maintain the plastic bag in an open position.

Wet garbage or table scraps may also be placed in plastic bags to be deposited in a garbage receptacle. This prevents an absorption of moisture by dry garbage in the receptacle thus preventing mildew and eliminating foul odors.

Larger bags, constructed of plastic or pater, are often used as garbage receptacles. No lightweight portable device has been made for holding large bags open while leaves, garbage and other materials are being placed therein.

Heretofore no suitable means has been provided for holding a plastic bag in an upright open condition to facilitate the filling ofbag.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION We have developed a collapsible bag support for holding a bag open while the bag is being filled.

The bag support has hinged connections at each corner thereof, allowing the bag support to be folded to a flat position for storage in a drawer when the support is not in use. Resilient means is provided for maintaining tension in the hinge connections so that the sides of the support may be secured in position at any desired angle.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a bag support capable of receiving and holding a plastic bag in an upright open position while the bag is being filled.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bag support wherein a plastic bag may be secured to the support and removed quickly and easily without manipulating complicated mechanisms.

A further object of the invention is to provide a bag support which is collapsible whereby the support will occupy a minimum amount of space when stored.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a bag support having hinged sides and tension means operably connected to the hinged connections such that the sides may be maintained in any desired angular relationship.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a bag support of simple construction which may be manufactured or purchased at minimum expense.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description hereinafter following and by referring to the drawings annexed hereto.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention are provided so that the invention may be better and more fully understood, in which:

FIG. l is a perspective view of the collapsible bag support, illustrated in full lines, with a plastic bag, illustrated in dashed outlines, positioned therein;

FIG. II is a top plan view of the bag support in a collapsed position;

FIG. III is an enlarged fragmentary view of a corner of the bag support illustrating details of construction of the hinged connection between adjoining sides thereof.

Numeral references are employed to designate like parts throughout the various figures of the drawings and like numerals designate like parts throughout the various figures.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to Figure I of the drawing the numeral 1 generally designates a collapsible bag support having a bag generally designated by the numeral 2 secured therein and held in place by resilient retainer member 3.

Bag 2 is inserted into the support through the upper top portion thereof and the upper edge 2' of the bag 2 is folded over the upper end of support 1.

Resilient retainer member 3 is positioned around the upper edge 2' of the bag 2 to hold the bag in a firm stationary condition relative to support ll. Retainer 3 may be a rubber band, string or the like for temporarily securing the bag to support I.

The support il consists of two rectangular members 41 and 6 comprising upper horizontal members ii and ti and lower horizontal members ill and It) connected by upright members l2 and M and H2 and M respectively. Rectangular members 4 and b are of identical construction and may be fabricated of any suitable material such as plastic or metal. In the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing, bag support l is constructed of wire which has been cut, bent and connected in the desired configuration to form the bag support.

One edge of the rectangular member 4 and one edge of rectangular member 6 are connected at the upper and lower ends thereof by cross braces 16 and 118 respectively. The other edges of rectangular members il and b are connected by cross braces 16' and 118'.

Cross braces i6, 18, lb and lb consist of elongated rod members having hinged portions 20 on each end thereof which extend around upright members l2, 14, I2 and i4.

Tension means consisting of resilient spring members 22 extend vertically between cross members 16 and 18 adjacent opposite ends thereof in spaced-apart relation from upright members 12 and 112. Spring members 22 are slightly longer than upright members l2, l2, M and M and therefore remain slightly deformed at all times. Spring members 22, therefore, push upwardly on cross braces 16 and i6 and push downwardly on cross braces lb and lb forcing them into engagement with the upper and lower portions of rectangular members .5 and 6 thus creating tension in hinged connections 20 as result of friction forces.

Spring members 22 may be secured to cross braces 16, 116', and I8 and lb by welding, brazing or any other suitable means.

When inwardly directed diagonally opposed forces are applied to upright members 14 and 112' support ll will be deformed or collapsed to a folded position as illustrated in FIG. II of the-drawing. When the support l is thus folded or collapsed it may be readily stored in a drawer or on a shelf.

It should be appreciated that the base, that portion of the bag support I which rests upon a suitable supporting surface, may be any of the sides thereof depending upon the orientation of the bag support l. The rod members which are substan tially vertically disposed, regardless of the orientation of bag support l, are legs which support the rods extending peripherally about the upper portion of the device.

Referring to FIG. III of the drawing, spring member 22 bows outwardly forcing cross member 18 downwardly.

From the foregoing it should be readily apparent that we have developed a collapsible bag support which is extremely simple to construct and use while providing the solution to the problem faced by housewives daily.

Having described our invention, we claim:

l. A support for a bag comprising, side members; hinged connections between the side members, a first of said side members having a curved surface formed thereon encircling a portion of an adjacent member connected thereto; deformable means secured to said first side member for urging the curved surface and the portion of the adjacent member encircled thereby into pressure contact to frictionally maintain the side members in a desired angular relationship; and means for securing a bag to the support.

2. A support for a bag comprising, side members; hinged connections between the side members; means secured to at least one of the side members for maintaining the side members in a desired angular relationship; and means for securing a bag to the support; wherein the support has four sides; two opposite sides comprise rectangular members including upper and lower horizontal members, and upright members secured to the upper and lower horizontal members; and each of the other two opposite sides comprise spaced upper and lower cross members.

3. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the means secured to at least one of the sides for maintaining the sides in a desired angular relationship comprises resilient means extending between the upper and lower cross members.

4. The combination called for in claim 3 wherein the resilient means extending between the upper and lower cross members include elongated spring members secured to the cross members.

5. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the means for securing a bag to the support comprises resilient retainer means constructed and arranged to engage a portion of a bag.

6. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the hinged connections comprise loops formed in opposite ends of the cross members constructed and arranged to encircle a portion of the upright members.

7. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the means for maintaining the side members in a desired angular relationship includes vertically disposed spring rods extending between the upper and lower cross members.

8. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the upper and lower horizontal members, the upright members, and the upper and lower cross members are elongated rods.

9. A support for a bag comprising. four substantially rectangular side members; hinged connections between the side members forming corners, said hinged connections being arranged to connect the side members to form a deformable parallelogram-shaped top and bottom such that inwardly directed diagonally opposed forces applied to opposite corners of the support will deform the support to a substantially flat configuration; and a resilient member extending between sides of at least one of the substantially rectangular members to urge adjacent side members into pressure relation to frictionally maintain the side members in a desired angular relationship.

10. A support for a bag comprising. a base having elongated rigid side members; means to hingedly connect the side members together; upwardly extending members having lower ends secured to said base; resilient adjusting means operably connected to the side members of the base to urge the contacting surfaces on at least two of said side members into pressure relation to frictionally maintain the sides of the base in a desired angular relationship; and means for securing a bag to the upwardly extending members.

11. A support for a bag comprising, spaced upper members; spaced cross braces; hinge means to connect opposite ends of the cross braces to ends of the spaced upper members; downwardly extending support members secured to the upper members; and deformable rods having ends secured to said cross braces and the support members to apply pressure through the hinge means to frictionally maintain a desired variable angular relationship between the upper members and the cross braces.

12. A support for a bag comprising, peripheral means having a central opening formed therein; leg elements for supporting the peripheral means; hinge members joining the peripheral means and the leg elements; and spring tension means extending between adjacent leg elements to apply force through said leg elements to the hinge members to maintain the leg elements in a desired angular relation to the peripheral means, said spring tension means being adapted to apply pressure to the hinge members without exerting force tending to rotate the leg elements relative to the peripheral means. 

1. A support for a bag comprising, side members; hinged connections between the side members, a first of said side members having a curved surface formed thereon encircling a portion of an adjacent member connected thereto; deformable means secured to said first side member for urging the curved surface and the portion of the adjacent member encircled thereby into pressure contact to frictionally maintain the side members in a desired angular relationship; and means for securing a bag to the support.
 2. A support for a bag comprising, side members; hinged connections between the side members; means secured to at least one of the side members for maintaining the side members in a desired angular relationship; and means for securing a bag to the support; wherein the support has four sides; two opposite sides comprise rectangular members including upper and lower horizontal members, and upright members secured to the upper and lower horizontal members; and each of the other two opposite sides comprise spaced upper and lower cross members.
 3. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the means secured to at least one of the sides for maintaining the sides in a desired angular relationship comprises resilient means extending between the upper and lower cross members.
 4. The combination called for in claim 3 wherein the resilient means extending between the upper and lower cross members include elongated spring members secured to the cross members.
 5. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the means for securing a bag to the support comprises resilient retainer means constructed and arranged to engage a portion of a bag.
 6. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the hinged connections comprise loops formed in opposite ends of the cross members constructed and arranged to encircle a portion of the upright members.
 7. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the means for maintaining the side members in a desired angular relationship includes vertically disposed spring rods extending between the upper and lower cross members.
 8. The combination called for in claim 2 wherein the upper and lower horizontal members, the upright members, and the upper and lower cross members are elongated rods.
 9. A support for a bag comprising, four substantially rectangular side members; hinged connections between the side members forming corners, said hinged connections being arranged to connect the side members to form a deformable parallelogram-shaped top and bottom such that inwardly directed diagonally opposed forces applied to opposite corners of the support will deform the support to a substantially flat configuration; and a resilient member extending between sides of at least one of the substantially rectangular members to urge adjacent side members into pressure relation to frictionally maintain the side members in a desired angular relationship.
 10. A support for a bag comprising, a base having elongated rigid side members; means to hingedly connect the side members together; upwardly extending members having lower ends secured to said base; resilient adjusting means operably connected to the side members of the base to urge the contacting surfaces on at least two of said side members into pressure relation to frictionally maintain the sides of the base in a desired angular relationship; and means for securing a bag to the upwardly extending members.
 11. A support for a bag comprising, spaced upper members; spaced cross braces; hinge means to connect opposite ends of the cross braces to ends of the spaced upper members; downwardly extending support members secured to the upper members; and deformable rods having ends secured to said cross braces and the support members to apply pressure through the hinge means to frictionally maintain a desired variable angular relationship between the upper members and the cross braces.
 12. A support for a bag comprising, peripheral means having a central opening formed therein; leg elements for suppOrting the peripheral means; hinge members joining the peripheral means and the leg elements; and spring tension means extending between adjacent leg elements to apply force through said leg elements to the hinge members to maintain the leg elements in a desired angular relation to the peripheral means, said spring tension means being adapted to apply pressure to the hinge members without exerting force tending to rotate the leg elements relative to the peripheral means. 